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The Possibility of You – Pamela Redmond

Set in 1916, 1976, and the present Pamela Redmond’s “The Possibility of You” explores the lives of three women on the cusp of motherhood. Each of the three characters finds themselves with child and asking the questions: what is it to be mother, which choice will be the best for the child, how does my history affect this child’s future?

1916 : Bridget a young woman freshly off the boat from Ireland was a nanny to Floyd, the child of Maude Apfelbaum wealthy socialite and suffragette. during the polio epidemic that year Floyd dies and so begins Bridget and Maude’s co-dependent, dysfunctional relationship that has ramifications for generations.

1976 : Billie has just lost her father. Her childhood hadn’t been particularly easy, no mother that she knew about, her father had led them from one poor home situation to the next, a drunken philosopher though she loved him deeply. Her friend, a student at the college that she is surreptitiously attending comes with her to clean out the apartment and collect her belongings. She is quite in love with this young, black, aspiring pediatrician despite the fact that he says his preferences mostly lie with the other sex.

2010+ : Cait is a world traveling journalist who does not let the moss grow under her feet. Covering the story of a missing child she becomes friends with a married man, a friendship that culminates in a drunken one night stand. He professes love, says his marriage is in shambles, and though her feelings are similar, she encourages him to go back to his wife and try to make it work. A month later when she discovers that she is pregnant, her resolutions waiver and she calls him. Her situation is further complicated because she was adopted as a baby and realizes now that she wants to find her birth mother. She is terrified that her birth mother took one look at her and couldn’t love her, and if that’s the case, perhaps she won’t be able to love this child.

A friend who is an adoptive mother read this book in one night, tears streaming down her face, she loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that I promised to move it to the top of my reading pile.

To read the perspective of a mom – look at Mutterschwester. She also has a video of Pamela Redmond reading from her book here.